


(Don't You) Hide Your Handsome Face (From Me)

by Neffectual



Series: 104 Reasons to Stay Alive [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Captain Erwin, Corporal Levi - Freeform, M/M, Pre-Series, Pre-Slash, Young Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), eruri - Freeform, orisor inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:51:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1934592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neffectual/pseuds/Neffectual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre-series. Corporal Levi, newly promoted, can't sleep. On his night time wanderings he bumps into the handsome captain who had recruited him. It's the first time he's seen him since.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Don't You) Hide Your Handsome Face (From Me)

**Author's Note:**

> Anaïs Mitchell's 'Fonder Heart' is the inspiration for the title, the quote, and every second of this story. It took an hour, and fifteen times of this song on repeat, to write this.
> 
> I apologise for any typos, errors, or huge gaps in the text, as I am on a lot of painkillers and also a sleeping tablet. Don't write between 3am and 4am.

_Come out, come on, come outside_   
_Don't you hide your handsome face from me_   
_I want to see you half-lit in the half-light_   
_Laughing with the whites of your dark eyes_   
_Shining_   
_Darkly_

 

It’s gone three in the morning, and Levi knows this because there’s a church a mile from the garrison, and the bell tolled a short time ago. Churches, he shakes his head, unable to believe that people still believe that they should worship some huge invisible force when a real, tangible force waits outside the walls. But that’s humanity for you, isn’t it, a stinking cesspool of stupidity and an unwillingness to learn. He’s been dragged here by a handsome fool on a horse – a horse, he brought a horse into a place where the only way you get meat to eat is if you can catch cats or trap rats – and given a space in the bunks, before rising through the ranks and getting his own space, with a window which faces out to the town. He wishes it didn’t, in times like this, the training grounds stretching beyond him to where the little houses begin. Two more hours and the baker will begin work, three more and the cadets will be up and moving, prepping for breakfast at seven. For now, the buildings are silent and dark, caught between the light of the moon and the rich shadows of the gathering night.

 

He lets himself out of the garrison near-silently, plenty of practice in moving quietly when to be heard would mean a beating at best, and at worst, well. He shakes the thought off and continues making his way out to the training grounds. He hasn’t got his gear with him, and curses himself quietly for this oversight; this would be a perfect time to try all the new moves he’s planned, but won’t attempt in from of the others until they’re perfect. It’s all very well for new recruits to fall on their faces, but it doesn’t do for a corporal to do the same. He might not be in charge of a squad of his own just yet, but he gets to do barrack inspections, and that’s enough petty power to draw a smile to his face. Watching the fresh meat tremble as he walks down the line of bunks reminds him of his first few days, and he feels strangely nostalgic for who he was before this place made him a better killer than the streets had ever managed.

 

Settling on a stone bench and taking out papers and tobacco, he slowly rolls himself a smoke, one of the few vices left to the common soldiery, but he predicts that will be gone too, in a few years. There’s a clink from behind him, and he turns, wary of anyone who manage to sneak up on him.

“This seat taken?” A voice asks, and Levi rolls his eyes as the man sits down without waiting for a reply. His face is half-lit in the half-light, but when Levi turns his head to look at him, he knows who it is.

“Oh, it’s you.” He mutters, before lighting his cigarette with practiced hands.

“Filthy habit,” the other man says, before taking a swig from a bottle, “It’ll kill you, you know.”

“As if I’ll live that long, Captain.” Levi says, easily. This is, after all, the handsome young captain who brought him into the fold; he knows exactly what the risks are and how futile the odds are.

“Drink?” the older man says, ignoring this fatalistic statement, “Always time to pick up another bad habit.”

“I think that one might be out of my price range.” Levi says, but he takes the offered bottle anyway, trading over the smoke as he takes a sip, “Ugh, what do they make this with, rats?”

The captain laughs, and breathes out a billow of smoke before each man returns to his own favourite vice, trading back with easy smiles.

 

_Come out, the streets are breathing_   
_Heaving green to red to green_   
_Come with your nicotine and wine_   
_Tambourine keeping time_   
_Come and find me in the evening_

 

There is silence for a little while as Levi finishes his cigarette, and rolls and lights another. The sun is beginning to peek over the horizon; summer always takes Levi this way, and he stops sleeping, stops thinking. He can no longer afford to do this.

“What are you thinking about?” the captain asks, and Levi doesn’t have a smart answer ready, “You look serious.”

Levi smirks.

“I was wondering when you were going to kiss me,” he says, and listens to the indrawn breath from beside him, “Because I wouldn’t be adverse to that development.”

“Why would I kiss you?” the older man says, one overly-large eyebrow raised.

“You’ll kiss me.” Levi says, certain, and takes another slow drag of the cigarette, breathing out wreathes of dragon-like smoke before stubbing it out under his boot, “Because I want you to.”

The handsome captain takes another gulp from the wine bottle before setting it down next to the bench.

“And what makes you so certain that you’re right?” he says, and his voice is hoarse – with the drink, with the smoke, with the hour of the morning, who knows – and Levi closes his eyes and shudders, for just a second.

“I usually am,” he says, when he can trust himself to speak, “What makes you so certain that I’m not?”

 

The other man doesn’t answer, just leans closer and presses his lips to Levi’s; chaste, gentle, and then draws away.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t,” he says, and his smile is sad now, so Levi waits for the lie to follow, “But it’s not proper, not with a subordinate. People will talk.”

Levi snorts at that, because he gets the feeling that the handsome captain doesn’t much care for what other people think of him.

“Then one more kiss,” he says, quietly, thinking of the mission tomorrow, where his old bunkmates will be under his command on the left flank, “For luck.”

The blond smiles again, a real one this time, and leans in. Levi takes control, biting at that plump lower lip until the captain’s mouth opens for him. He feels strong arms around him, and moans into the kiss. He feels – young, pure, chaste, wanted, breathless, clean – like nothing he has ever felt before. When they draw back, the captain trails one hand down Levi’s cheek before rising to stand.

“We won’t be lovers,” he says, gently.

“Liar.” Levi says wryly, before he can stop himself. The captain flushes slightly pink, knowing he has been caught.

“Not lover.” The captain replies, firmly, “But you will be my brother in arms.” With that, he leaves, walking somewhat unsteadily towards the garrison. Levi lies back on the stone bench, feeling the cold ache of stone through his bones, and watches the sun rise.

Not lovers, indeed, he thinks. Well, we’ll see about that.

 

_Come out, come inspired_   
_You will not come to harm_   
_If I cannot take you for a liar or a lover_   
_I'll take you for my brother in arms_


End file.
